Within the context of this specification, gondola, gondola run, gondolas and gondola islands all refer to store shelving known in the field. Gondolas, such as the one depicted in FIGS. 13A-13C, are known with or without a central support column and with one or two sides having shelving attached. Warehouse pallet racking is also known, such as pallet racking used in home centers and warehouses. Unless otherwise expressly indicated, the term gondolas refers to both a single gondola or a gondola run having a plurality of gondolas or both.
Lifting systems are known that use a plurality of caster wheels to mobilize empty gondolas or gondolas that have at least a portion of the racked products removed from the gondolas. U.S. Patent Publication 2007/0194546, published Aug. 23, 2007, and U.S. Patent Publication 2007/0059138, published Mar. 15, 2007 illustrate systems with a screw or hydraulic jack for lifting gondolas, the description and drawings of which are hereby incorporated for background herein. Two devices are disposed on opposite sides of the gondolas at each upright support, which may be accessible behind a kick plate. Each upright support is raised using the lifting apparatus and the gondola, even if quite long, is movable using the lifting system as a hand truck, with each of the hand trucks being moved at the same time.
However, deep gondolas and gondolas with products racked on the gondolas cannot be moved using these known devices. An upright support in the middle of a gondola, between two opposite sides of the gondola, bows excessively, causing damage to the gondola support structure and tumbling of the products. Thus, a time consuming unracking and reracking of at least a significant portion of the products on the gondolas is required in order to mobilize the gondolas.